Nicosia talks with troika to restart after mid-October
Officials of the so-called troika that oversees euro-area bailouts are unlikely to return to Cyprus to restart bailout talks until at least mid-October, a Cypriot official said on Wednesday.
The talks will probably have to wait until Cypriot Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly returns from an International Monetary Fund meeting in Tokyo that concludes on October 14, the official said on condition of anonymity because the deliberations are private.
Shiarly will also attend a meeting of European finance ministers in Luxembourg on October 8-9.
On June 25 Cyprus became the fifth country in the euro area to seek external aid. Eurozone finance ministers agreed to begin talks two days later.
No amount was specified for the rescue, which will encompass the public sector as well as banks.
Cyprus also sought assistance from Russia and the IMF.
The Cypriot government?s counterproposal to the troika, composed of officials from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF, is ?essentially complete,? spokesman Christos Christofides said on Monday.
A previous draft of the counterproposal was rejected by left-wing President Dimitris Christofias, and a ?milder? version was prepared, the official said.
The draft will be discussed with political parties and social partners before it?s submitted to the troika, according to Christofides. [Bloomberg]
